This invention relates to locking and release mechanisms and, more particularly, to such a mechanism incorporated into a compound bow structure which permits manual activation of the locking mechanism which acts to maintain the bow string in a drawn position, and selective release of the locking mechanism to permit shooting the arrow.
Hunting game with a compound bow has become a popular sport and hunters have discovered that the action of drawing the bow string upon sight of a game animal creates noise and motion which scares the game animals. The animals are highly sensitive to any motion or noise, thereby hindering the hunter's chance at firing an accurate shot. In response to this dilemma, special locking mechanisms have been invented since the advent of the compound bow which effectively lock the bow string in the almost fully drawn position until selectively released by the hunter. In this way, the hunter may lock his bow string in the set position while waiting for prey to come close, aim and release the lock by pulling the bow string past the set position to fire the arrow with a minimum of noise and motion, thereby improviding the opportunity of a more accurate aim than is available without such a locking mechanism.
The present inventor has discovered that of the locking mechanisms for compound bows of which he is aware, an arrangement of ratchet wheels and pawls are employed which automatically engage to lock the bow string at a selective one or, in some instances, any position along a predetermined length of bow string draw applied by the archer. Upon drawing the bow string past the predetermined length of draw, the locking mechanism automatically releases to fire the arrow. Examples of such locking mechanism may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,221 issued to Bryant on Oct. 13, 1981, and No. 4,886,039 issued to Wagner on Dec. 12, 1989.
In both locking mechanisms of the aforementioned patents, the locking mechanism engages automatically upon drawing the bow string back to a drawn position. This type of locking arrangement may not always be desired by an archer since he may wish not to have the locking mechanism engage when, for instance, he is merely target practicing or the game is close by and a full, or nearly full draw on the bow string is not necessary.
It is therefore a main object of the present invention to provide a locking mechanism for a compound bow in which the locking action upon the bow string is not automatic upon drawing the bow string back, but instead manually actuable by the archer as desired.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compound bow locking mechanism which is of simple construction and easy to install and use on a variety of present day compound bows.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a manually engageable locking mechanism for the bow string of a compound bow which is releasable upon drawing the bow string only a short distance past its locked position.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a selectively actuable locking mechanism for a compound bow wherein the locking mechanism is engaged with very little noise or motion.
Other objects will in part be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.